Not the brightest oil lamp in the Synagogue!
Joh 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Joh 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Joh 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Joh 3:10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Today there are plenty of burnt out light bulbs in our churches also!
They profess to be light bulbs, but in fact there is no light in them for they are burnt out!
The old filament is snapped, the power cannot flow, thus NO LIGHT!
Good old Nicodemus was a regular fixture at the old Synagogue he followed RELIGIOUS TRADITION and yet Jesus told him “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Then Jesus told him “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
So what is Jesus talking about? This guy was a religious leader (ruler of the Jews) and Jesus basically told him he was headed to Hell! (The old landfill, Gehenna)
gheh'-en-nah
Of Hebrew origin; valley of (the son of) Hinnom; gehenna (or Ge-Hinnom), a valley of Jerusalem, used (figuratively) as a name for the place (or state) of everlasting punishment: - hell.
Let’s look at the 2 requirements to be saved according to Jesus:
1) Be born of water
2) And of the Spirit
Let’s now truly, truly unravel this so called “Mystery!”
The first requirement: Water
Joh 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
So from the few passages above we see “WATER” is used in a figurative sense to mean the “WORD OF GOD” Bible to us today! Who is the Ghost writer of the Bible? That’s right! The Holy Ghost!!! Now you also know were that term comes from!
The second requirement: and the Spirit!
What Spirit? The Holy Spirit, the same author of the Word of God, our Bible folks!
This is the same Spirit that restored a chaotic Earth back to a “It was good” with God standing.
So if you truly, truly want to get saved, GO GET A BIBLE, AND START READING, AND SIMPLY BELIEVING EVERYTHING WRITTEN WITHIN THOSE PAGES, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL THEN CIRCUMSICE YOUR HEART THUS MAKING YOU A NEW CREATURE, A BORN AGAIN CREATURE!
By the way Nicodemus finally replaced his human wick with a spiritual wick that never burns out!
Joh 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
So what about you my 100 watt burnt out bulb?
Will you be unscrewed and tossed into the trash? Or will you let the Word of God and the Spirit REPLACE THAT BROKEN FILAMENT with one that will never burn out again? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind!